500 Kenyan teachers sacked for impregnating young pupils

500 teachers have been sacked in Kenya for impregnating young pupils this past year. The revelation by the Teachers Service Commission chairman Ibrahim Hussein Wednesday also revealed that teachers will also face criminal proceedings in courts,besides losing their jobs. Last year, 600 teachers had their names struck from the TSC register for impregnating their pupils.

More in French, for BBC Afrique: Story on air at 12.00 GMT edition and later on too at 16.00 GMT

www.bbc.co.uk/french

Plus de 500 enseignants ont été licenciés ce mercredi au Kenya après avoir mis enceintes certaines de leurs élèves. En 2009, plus de 600 enseignants avaient déjà été renvoyés pour les mêmes raisons. Melissa Chemam

L’annonce a été faite pendant la conférence annuelle de l’Association kenyane des enseignants du primaire, hier. La Commission des enseignants a révélé que plus de 500 maitres d’école ont été démis de leurs fonctions pour avoir eu des relations sexuelles avec certaines de leurs jeunes élèves, qui sont par la suit tombées enceintes.

Le directeur de cette Commission, Ibrahim Hussein, aussi confirmé que ces enseignants devront être traduits devant la justice. La police va donc ouvrir une procédure pénale sous peu. Le haut fonctionnaire kenyan Ahmed Hussein a déclare a la BBC que la plupart des filles victimes de ces viols avaient entre 12 et 15 ans, la plupart des abus se déroulant dans des écoles primaires de villages, ans la campagne kenyane.

Selon Ibrahim Hussein, l’année dernière déjà, 600 enseignants du primaire ont été reconnus coupables d’avoir mises enceintes une ou plusieurs de leurs élèves. Il a cependant relevé que certains parents avaient depuis renoncé à poursuivre en justice ces enseignants, pour des raisons financières essentiellement. Certains professeurs tentent également de proposer de l’argent aux parents des victimes pour étouffer l’affaire.


La commission des enseignants kenyans espèrent pouvoir lever cet obstacle en soutenant les familles dans leurs démarches judiciaires.


Le directeur de la Commission kenyane des enseignants, Ibrahim Hussein, a de plus insisté sur le devoir des parents de replacer leurs filles dans le système scolaire après leur accouchement, dans une école différente, a-t-il ajouté.


Selon le ministre de l’éducation, Sam ONGERI, malgré plusieurs campagnes de formation des enseignants à l’égalité entre les genres, les filles sont souvent victimes de discrimination dans le système éducatif du Kenya. La Commission kenyane des enseignants s’est en réponse engagée à former les directeurs d’école à réagir dans ce genre de situation.

Melissa Chemam, Nairobi, pour BBC Afrique

BBC Afrique on Sheihk Ahmad's visit to Kenya

Hi everyone,

my story on Somali President's visit to Nairobi was on air this morning on BBC Matin (6.00 GMT). It includes an extract from our interview with Kenyan Foreign Minister, Moses Wetangura.

You can still check on our audios: www.bbc.co.uk/french, on the bottom right of our page, clicking on BBC Matin 0600.

Here is the script in French for francophones:

Le président du gouvernement de transition somalien, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, est en visite au Kenya depuis ce mardi. Il a rencontré de nombreux officiels kenyans ainsi que le président Mwai Kibaki, pour parler de la stabilisation du pays et de la sécurité de la région est-africaine. Melissa Chemam a rencontré le Ministre des Affaires étrangères kenyan, Moses Wetangura, qui a résumé le contenu de cette rencontre à huis-clos.

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Selon le ministre des affaires étrangères kenyan, Moses Wetangura, le président somalien s’est entretenu avec son homologue kenyan dans le but de mieux œuvrer a la stabilisation de son pays, et par conséquent de toute la région est-africaine.

Depuis la démission du premier ministre du gouvernement de transition somalien, Omar Abdirashid Ali Shamarke, le président Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed est en pleines négociations pour la formation d’un nouveau gouvernement et notamment avec ses partenaires internationaux.

Et selon le ministre des affaires étrangères kenyan, ces discussions se sont révélées positives. Le Kenya serait prêt, selon lui, à envoyer plus de soldats en Somalie, aux cotes des forces de l’AMISOM et de l’Union africaine, mais le plus important reste la coordination de ces troupes et l’amélioration de leur ravitaillement.

Le ministre des affaires étrangères kenyan, Moses Wetangura :

« J’ai en effet eu connaissance d’un rapport qui indique que des progrès ont été atteints par le gouvernement somalien et ses troupes soutenues par l’AMISOM à Mogadiscio. Et le Président somalien pense qu’avec le soutien international ses troupes peuvent faire de grandes avancées en matière de sécurité et de capacité a contrôler plus de territoire. Nous avons aussi discuté de toutes les options en ce qui concerne le rôle du Kenya. Je ne peux pas vous donner de détails maintenant, mais toutes les possibilités sont ouvertes au cas où le Kenya doive défendre son peuple et son territoire ».

Le président Mwai Kibaki a donc réaffirmé l’engagement de son pays pour la stabilisation de son voisin, dans un premier temps lors de la réunion de du Conseil de la Communauté des pays d’Afrique de l’Est, puis lors d’un tête-à-tête avec le président somalien, mardi après-midi.

Pour rappel, les troupes gouvernementales somaliennes ne contrôlent toujours que quelques rues de la capitale Mogadiscio, alors que les milices islamistes Al Shabaab tiennent une majeure partie du pays, et tentent toujours de prendre le pouvoir.

La question de la piraterie qui mine le trafic maritime aux larges des cotes somaliennes a également été abordée par les deux présidents. Selon le ministre des affaires étrangères kenyan, une commission réunissant le ministre de la justice, le procureur général ainsi que le vice-président kenyan, entre autres, a été mise en place pour agir et ainsi respecter les engagements internationaux du Kenya en matière de lutte contre la piraterie.  

Melissa Chemam, Nairobi, pour BBC Afrique.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki reaffirms Kenya's commitment on Somalia's stabilisation

Today, I followed the Somali transitional government's President's visit in Nairobi.
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad was in the Kenyan capital to meet Kenyan officials and President Kibaki on issues such as stabilisation of Somalia, regional security and piracy.

Mwai Kibaki reaffirmed Kenya’s commitment regarding the stabilisation of the East African region, during the East African Business Council Board, hold at the State House, in Harambee, Nairobi.

See this article on one of the main Kenyan radio’s website:
www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/Kenyabusiness/Kenya-pushes-for-standard-goods-in-EA-4777.html

He then had a private meeting with the Somali president.

This afternoon, I got to interview Kenya’s minister of Foreign Affairs on the content of this meeting. According to Moses Wetangura, the two presidents discussed the means to stabilise the transitional government in Somalia. We have to remember that Somalia’s Prime Minister resigned two weeks ago, under a long-time pressure from President Ahmad.

Kenya is even ready to send more troops in Somalia, according to Wetangura, if necessary, to complete the AMISOM and African Union forces in the troubled country. But he primarily thinks the troops and peace mission need above all a better commandment and better food supplies to fight more efficiently the Al Shabaab militias currently controlling a large part of Somalia’s territory.

Other issues as piracy have also been discussed, and the Kenyan President has reaffirmed Nairobi will commit to fulfil its engagement on this key security issue.

But observers also emphasise that the Somali President came to discuss on the formation of a new government with a new Prime Minister. Let’s hope the latter will be appointed soon, for the region’s sake.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation presents the 2010 Index on governance in Africa

Today in Nairobi, Kenya, a panel from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation presented the 2010 Index on good governance in Africa.

Here are the numbers' presentation:
http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en/section/the-ibrahim-index/scores-and-ranking

The Foundation says the overall governance performance scores in Africa are 'driven by gains in economic and human development but undermined by democratic recession'.

The 2010 Ibrahim Index indeed shows recent gains in many countries in human and economic development but declines in political rights, personal safety and the rule of law. The Index assesses the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by governments and non-state actors across 88 indicators.

The Mo Ibrahim Founadtion's Founder and Chair said ‘The 2010 Ibrahim Index gives us a mixed picture about recent progress on governance across the continent. While many African citizens are becoming healthier and have greater access to economic opportunities than five years ago, many of them are less physically secure and less politically enfranchised.’

The 2010 Index shows both areas of progress and setbacks in governance between 2004/05 and 2008/09 (the most recent period assessed):

- Overall governance quality remains largely unchanged from previous years, with a continental average score of 49.
- However, this average masks large variation in performance across countries. Angola, Liberia, and Togo have all seen significant improvements in governance performance scores.
- Furthermore, there are large differences in trends across the various categories of the Index.
- In both Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development there have been improvements in many African countries. Importantly, no country has declined significantly in these categories.
      o In Sustainable Economic Opportunity, 41 African states improved; ten of these were significant.
      o  In Human Development, 44 of Africa’s 53 countries progressed driven by improvements in most countries in the Health and Welfare sub-category. Two of the improvements in Human Development were significant.
- This progress is not mirrored in Safety and Rule of Law and Participation and Human Rights.
     o In Safety and Rule of Law, 35 African states have declined; five of these were significant declines.
     o In Participation and Human Rights, although the results were more mixed, almost two-thirds of African countries declined in the Participation and Rights sub-categories.
     o Analysis of the performance of countries in the Gender sub-category shows some progress.
Considering these results, Salim Ahmed Salim, Board Member of the Foundation and former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity, said:
 ‘We must ensure that the political side of governance in Africa is not neglected. We have seen from evidence and experience across the world that discrepancies between political governance and economic management are unsustainable in the long term. If Africa is going to continue to make progress we need to pay attention to the rights and safety of citizens.’

The Index Director, Dr Hania Farhan, also insisted that the Index should be used as a 'Powerful Tool' for governments to look closer at their political and economic development, and that it will not in any case give any judgment on the African countries' situation.

The lovely side of moving to a new place

Nairobi is entering its light and short raining season. It implies heavy but brief daily storms around 18.00. I experimented some yesterday, Sunday, when I got back from the Karen neighbourhood. This expedition ended my first week end in Kenya, full of new friends and new experiences.

For instance, we had our first drink at our house since I moved in, with a few people from the United Nations’ office in Nairobi, and some other in fashion or in media. I got to discover great places such as the Zen Garden, an Asian restaurant in the middle of a green and wide garden. I had my first experience in a Kenyan Club, Gallileo .I paid a visit to the Westgate mall and the Village market, two high points of Nairobi's shopping rendez vous. I had lunch son Saturday in the Rustique restaurant, located on an amazing outdoor site. And finally, I went to the neighbourhood of Karen, westbound, where the monthly Blanket and Wine music festival takes place.  

This is the best part in moving to a new place. You discover and you cannot get enough of it. Every personal experience is also a way to learn more about the country, its people, its traditions and history.

Discovering Nairobi - Week 1

We’re Friday, my first week in Kenya is almost completed. And I have kept myself busy. Thanks to the help of some friends, I am in contact with many people here. I have started moving around the huge and spread out Nairobi with a driver or a taxi. On my first day, this allowed my to discover the town, from the West part, Brookside, where I am living, to the city centre where the BBC Office is, as well as most government’s buildings, ministries and the parliament.

 

Monday I met the lovely and hard-working BBC editorial team, working for the World Service, the World News Television, the newsgathering department, the BBC Trust, and the Swahili service. They welcomed me in their wonderfully equipped bureau downtown Nairobi. I also met the freelance correspondent for the Great Lake Service, who is also based in the office. Laurent Martin is a French speaker from Burundi and has been working with the BBC for more than 8 years, with a break of a few years spent in IRIN, the UN radio program. We have quickly become a sort of team, since we are both freelancers and French-speakers.

On Tuesday, I went to the Ministry of Information to ask for my press accreditation. After a two-hour tour of Nairobi to meet the Press Accreditation Advisor in the city’s biggest economic fair in the Showground, my accreditation was ready. I got a Kenyan press card and a letter to give to the immigration allowing me to get my work permit.

It is a lot of work to get all this paperwork done by myself and at the same time starting working and covering a country I am just discovering, while I also have a lot to do to settle down. But it is the freelance journalists’ fate, and this first busy week turns out being very exciting. It isn’t easy for instance to cross the city centre in the afternoon when the traffic jams are terrible. It is pretty tricky to get our house connected to internet; the provider keeps telling us he is about to come and it has already been a week that we have not seen him coming. Getting to a press conference can take you up to an hour and a half if you are stuck in traffic. Nevertheless, I have felt all this is part of my introduction to Kenya. And in the middle of my numerous appointments, I still managed to realise my first interview, at the Consultation on the responsible exploitation of mines in the Great Lakes region. I then sent my first radio package to BBC Afrique on Wednesday evening. It was broadcasted on Thursday evening in BBC Matin, our 1 hrs 30 edition, and again in the Midday edition, BBC Midi.

I also had to meet the French Embassy’ press officers to introduce myself and register as an expatriate. I was finally invited on Tuesday evening to a party at the French Ambassador’s house, in Kibera. Kibera is one of Nairobi’s biggest township; one million people are reported to live in the slum. Strangely, the French Ambassador’s residence is located just at the border with the township. A splendid villa with a tropical garden at the door of the highest poverty on the country… Nairobi is really a diverse and complex city. Very “developed” as expats like to put it; the roads are for instance impeccable, the city centre is full of skyscrapers and shinny big cars from Germany or Japan are everywhere.

Yes, Nairobi has everything the big cities in this world promise to provide. These past few days, I have been taken to at least three huge malls. I was surprised by the size of those places and by all the choice of shops and restaurants. There’s no Western product missing in Nairobi. The country is full of advertising signs and the capital has at least 5 big malls, meaning more than Miami. You can really feel that the 3.5 million residents capital is a regional headquarter and economic lung.

Of course, the other side of this shiny prosperity is the huge social inequalities. And while millions live in slums, a few enclose themselves in beautiful mansions secured by high walls and electrified barriers. The tensions between diverse communities are high, and security has become an obsession. For better or for worst…

So here is a first introduction to what I have experience in Nairobi. It’s a modest view on a fascinating and wide country that I have hardly really begun to explore. But I hope it might interest a few readers. To conclude, this week is really fulfilling all my expectations. I already met Kenyan journalists, local drivers, UN workers and British and Indian Kenyan. The decision to move to Kenya proves to be the best I made in a long time.

Leaving Bush House

        Here we are, today was my last day in Bush House, the main office for the BBC World Service in London. This morning I had a meeting with a young British producer pitching stories for Al Jazeera's documentaries. We talked about East Africa and Haiti. 

A couple of hours later, I was sitting in front of my computer in Bush House, editing my last piece from Europe for BBC Afrique, a 15-minute interview with the Chadian filmmaker Mahamat Saleh Haroun, and recording the last leads for our week-end magazines. My voice is still going to be heard on the broadcasts from London this weekend, while I will already be away.

So I am ready, and I am leaving for Nairobi from London Heathrow on Sunday morning. I have hardly started to pack my luggage is, but myself, I am almost there already, in thoughts. I have been dreaming of Kenya for weeks now; it is about time I go.

It’s still hard to believe I am leaving Bush House in spite of all this excitement. This year in London, in the BBC has been amazingly interesting and delightful. I have been happy and passionate here, in the city and in my job, as nowhere else. I would always be grateful to London, to the UK, to the BBC and of course, to my great friends in London. And I can promise one thing: I will be back.